The Heartbreaks - Funtimes

Tony Richardson’s film The Entertainer shed a grey light on the seaside resort of Morecombe. Laurence Olivier played a bankrupt and alcoholic music hall performer whose shows saw decreasing audiences and the town was portrayed in pretty poor decline. Quite bleak, right? Enter former residents the Heartbreaks then. Although now based in Manchester, the four-piece see their former home with more romanticism. In a previous interview drummer and chief songwriter Joseph Kondras said: ‘For us there’s nothing more romantic than a day out at the seaside. The British seaside has this sort of faded glamour to it, it’s tacky and tragic, yet at the same time, there’s a real beauty to it. And that’s so essentially British. There’s nothing more inspirational than the British seaside.’

Themes of misery and ache do run heavy throughout ‘Funtimes’ but they’re polished with a glam varnish. The 60s girl group sweetness of closing track ‘I Didn’t Think It Would Hurt To Think Of You’ deals with the pain of infatuation whilst the Suede-ish shimmer of ‘Polly’ contemplates escaping troubled relationships: vocalist Matthew Kondras’ cry is similar to Brett Anderson’s. Elsewhere, producers Tristan Ivemy (Babyshambles) and Edwyn Collins’ thumbprints are clearly visible. ‘Remorseful,’ for example, combines hints of Babyshambles’ crunch with the swing of ‘Rip It Up’ era Orange Juice.

Their most obvious influence, unsurprisingly, is the Smiths. Kondras even manages to sneak a cheeky reference to the band through the ‘Hand In Glove’ ring of ‘Save Our Souls’ (“We can walk in the setting of our favourite Smiths song”). One of their oldest tracks remains the most refreshing though. The Orange Juice meets Marr-esque jangle of ‘Liar, My Dear’ (about rainfall ruining these lads’ day) reads like a seaside tour hosted by Mozza himself: think a Smiths’ track that the Eighties legends have never written and you’ve hit the bulls eye. There’s a poetic beauty about it all where the band manages to avoid coming off as pretentious or show off-ish. It’s because of these moments that - despite ‘Winter Gardens,’ ‘Jealous, Don’t You Know’ and ‘Gorgeous’ being the album’s duller tracks - many a fun time can certainly be had.